


at aalar kar'taylir darasuum (To Feel Love)

by xwingsandlightsabers



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, IM EXCITED TO WRITE THIS, eventual dirty language and thoughts, order 66 ensues, poe is a mandalorian, rey is a jedi from the republic, she's still a palpatine
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-03-22
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:20:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22823203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xwingsandlightsabers/pseuds/xwingsandlightsabers
Summary: Rey is a Jedi that gets shot down over the surface of Mandalore when Order 66 is put out by her own grandfather. Just when she's about to lose hope, the Force sends her a bodyguard-and a partner.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Rey
Comments: 9
Kudos: 32





	1. Escape

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I've never watched the prequels. There, I said it. If I get anything wrong, PLEASE correct me. Poe doesn't come along until the next chapter. I have the first 5-6 chapters outlined but I'll update when I can. The title is in Mando'a, the language of Mandalore.
> 
> Also (possibly), I might write the sexy stuff for the first time. I haven't clearly decided yet. I'm just not comfortable with that either.

She didn’t understand what was happening. The two clone troopers that had been escorting her to Mandalore had suddenly turned against her and opened fire. Were they spies? Did they choose to defect? Was there an error in their cloning?

It started with them disabling her hyperspace ring. Now, they were attacking her.

She engaged the two in a defensive dogfight, trying to disable their ships instead of killing them. Killing was not the way of the Jedi. She had hoped to give them a fair trial. But that plan hadn’t worked.

So now, here she was, plummeting for the surface of Mandalore with no control over her trusty Jedi Starfighter.

“What are you two doing? You were ordered to protect me, not engage me!” She shouted into her comms.

“Sorry, Palpatine. We don’t serve the Jedi anymore.” The clone’s tone of voice rattled her to the bone, almost as bad as the final shot that had disabled her ship.

“You just wait until my grandfather hears about this!” She shouted.

“Oh, yeah. About that…”

She reached out to the force, feeling the auras of the two clones. They were supposed to have been bred to be loyal. That they definitely were. 

But right now, they were loyal to someone else.

Her grandfather. Sheev Palpatine. 

Why would he just...turn like this?

 _No time to think, Rey_ , she thought to herself. _You’ll have time later. If you survive this landing._

She gripped her controls and sent out a beacon. At least if she died, the rest of the Jedi council would know where she was.

Considering any of them were left. Mace Windu, Ki-Adi-Mundi, Plo Koon…

Younglings.

She would probably never be rescued. And if so, by the wrong people.

Her ship broke the cloud layer before she even got any control of her starfighter. She grit her teeth and pulled up, slowly. She put all of her strength into it. She would survive.

For the Republic. For the galaxy. For the Jedi who lived, and for those that died.

She wanted to be alive to see her grandfather’s fall.

 _Not really a thought a Jedi should have,_ she told herself. But that didn’t matter right now. She had a ship to land, hopefully in mostly one piece.

The ground was approaching fast. Her ship whined in complaint. There was nothing she could do but put it down before it reacted any worse. So, she put it down.

Hard.

She was thrown forward in her seat, the only thing stopping her from breaking through the viewport being her harness. She squinted forward and saw the barren land of Mandalore going past her ship, a large trail of dust shooting up in its wake.

It seemed like forever before the ship slid to a halt. _My fault for not flying with an astromech,_ she thought. _I’d probably be in better shape._

She slowly opened her eyes fully and saw nothing but wartorn surface stretching for miles. She popped the canopy-at least that survived-and stood, slowly getting out. She groaned. She hurt all over.

Her feet hit the surface of the planet and she slid to the ground, closing her eyes and trying to catch her breath. She listened for the sounds of starfighters coming back to find her and finish her off. Nothing.

So, this is the way she would die, join the others that were taken as well. She could imagine the headlines now; _Rey Palpatine Found Dead on Mandalore, Burned and Shot to Pieces by a Mandalorian._

Knowing her luck so far, a Mandalorian might pop up and kill her instead. They weren’t too keen on Jedi. At least, the outlanders were.

Scared of the thought of meeting a Mandalorian, she stood up and trudged over to her supply hold on her ship. Her supplies, enough for three days, survived the crash as well. Thankfully, everything was in there when she checked.

Maybe the Force had other plans for her.

She slung it over her shoulder, grabbed her staff that she always carried in the ship in the case of an emergency like this, and looked around her. There was nowhere to get her bearings. All she could do was walk.

She ensured the beacon was still on and, after finding that it was, trudged forward into the sands of Mandalore.

She didn’t know how much time had gone by before they found her again. With the way she felt after walking for so long, she was guessing about six hours. Six hours straight of doing nothing but walking, and finding nowhere to go.

All she could do was ignite her lightsaber and fight back. She didn’t like this feeling; being hunted like a wounded tauntaun. But this tauntaun fought back.

The formation of clones appeared over the top of the dune behind her and opened fire without hesitation. She expertly blocked and repelled the shots, some returning to take out the clones. She thrust a hand out and threw some against a boulder that happened to be close enough, then took a breath and rushed forward.

She wasn’t dying this way, and they attacked first. She expertly dodged and weaved, taking out the surrounding clones. She threw another clump of clones over the sand dune, then turned her attention to the walker.

She ran right up to it, making the clones inside surprised enough that they stopped it. She took another breath and leaped up onto the walker, her Jedi training coming into play. She cut open the door with her saber and went inside, throwing the troopers outside. She slashed at the controls, setting off a destructive sequence that she had to avoid.

And she did. She jumped and landed outside just as the walker went up in flames. She panted, looking at the destruction around her. The clones, the walker. The burning oil smell.

Terrified of what she just did, she extinguished her saber and ran. This would surely draw unwanted attention to this area, and she had to move. But mostly, in a way, this would further prove Palpatine’s theory that all Jedi were dangerous and had to be annihilated. 

_Hopefully, nobody follows the trail of destruction I may have to make,_ she thought. That was a thought for later. Right now, all she could do was run.

She didn’t know how long she’d been running, but all she knew was that it was getting dark. She had to find somewhere hidden to sleep. She froze and drew in a breath to calm herself before she reached through the Force to find somewhere.

A cave. Her eyes shot open and she turned towards the mouth of it, gaping in the sand like a mouth.

 _Finally._ She walked towards it and cautiously entered, ensuring she was aware of her surroundings. She didn’t sense any living creatures with the Force, so she decided to stay. 

All of her joints seemed to groan as she settled down. She laid back against a rock and pulled out a day’s worth of rations. She sat and ate in silence, the wind picking up outside. A sandstorm was incoming. She pulled her scarf up over her face and pulled her hood lower as she finished her dinner.

She fell asleep that night with no fire, no starship, and no hope for the future.

But little did she know that the Force, in fact, did have something in store for her.


	2. Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was not a normal Mandalorian. Out of all the ones she'd met on diplomatic missions, this was the friendliest one by far. At least, he wasn't normal by whatever "normal" was in their standards.
> 
> She had a good feeling about this guy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Phew, sorry about the dry spell.

She woke up shivering, her teeth clattering. She'd gotten used to the planet's rotations and was adjusted to it. She looked around her and stretched, her muscles stiff. She was out of water. Good to know she would die slowly.

She stood and grabbed her sleeping mat. All of her food and water was gone and she another day of walking ahead of her. As the sun broke the horizon, she decided to get a head start on the day's travels.

Except when she reached out through the Force, she felt an aura. It wasn't the sad ones the clones emitted when they shot her down. This one was...different. It was warm, sunny. Bright yellow. It warmed her to the point she didn't feel the cool of the early morning wastelands.

"Hey, _jetiise!"_ The voice came through a modulator. All warmth from the aura was replaced with a chill that shot down her back. She drew her saber and ignited it, turning around to face her threat.

In front of her was a Mandalorian, just what she feared. They were crouched on what was left of a tree. The early morning light shone off of his black and orange armor. She could tell by how it looked that it was Beskar steel. They held up their hands in a gesture of surrender. How unlike them.

"Who, me? What makes you think I'm not a Sith?" Rey asked defensively.

"All of the Siths have red glow stick thingys. At least the ones I saw."

Rey scoffed. "What makes you think I'm not using a Jedi lightsaber I found somewhere?"

"A Sith probably wouldn't have ignited their lightsaber upon seeing a Mandalorian. Besides, not everyone carries one of those, you know." She noted that his voice was more fascinated than threatening, but didn't plan on taking any chances.

She suddenly moved towards him and the man shouted from surprise and flinched back. Rey stopped, mostly out of surprise, and slightly dropped her saber. Holding a hand up, he reached up with the other and removed his helmet.

His curls fell down over his forehead and his chocolate eyes were wide with...fear? She was sensing fear. She had never seen a Mandalorian without their helmet before, but apparently they were handsome, despite the faint scar that ran down from his right eye.

He saw her eyes taking him in and gave a nervous chuckle. "Never seen a Mandalorian before, _jetiise?_ " 

"You can stop calling me that," she said as she extinguished her saber and put it back on her belt. "Besides, I thought you weren't allowed to remove your helmet." She was trying not to think about just how distracting his face was. Jedis were not allowed to have romantic connections.

He cocked his head and furrowed his brows a little. Apparently he'd never seen a Jedi before. That was at least a little comforting. "So you HAVE been to Mandalore then? I'm not a foundling. I was born and raised here. Clan Dameron isn't really big, more of an _aliit_ , really."

Rey grabbed her sleeping roll and started walking away from him. She heard him leap from the log and follow her, his footsteps soft in the sand.

"Rey," she said simply. Maybe he would take her attitude as a signal to leave. 

Of course, he didn't. "Rey? Is that your name?" 

"Yes." She said, still walking. "Rey Palpatine."

"Poe Dameron." He ran in front of her and held his hand out. She stopped and glanced at his hand before she kept walking.

"Well, Poe. If you don't mind, I have to keep walking. I have to find a place to go." Again, she heard his soft footsteps in the sand behind her.

"Wait a second." She huffed and turned around.

"Curious much?" She didn't mean to sound rude, but she really needed to keep walking.

"What are you hiding from?" She sensed no danger coming from his aura. She sighed and looked at the sand under her boots.

"The Separatists. My...my own grandfather ordered all Jedi be killed. I don't know why. I was on my way to this planet for a diplomatic mission, but the two clones that were my escort turned against me and disabled my ship. I crash-landed here a few rotations ago." She risked looking up at him and saw he was upset like her. "I'm lost. I'm out of food and water. Just...leave me to whatever beasts live out here."

She turned with heavy footsteps and went to keep walking when he called for her again.

"Wait, Rey." She wouldn't admit her name sounded good coming from his lips, which were also beautiful.

"What?"

"I don't know why you're afraid of me. Our clan chose not to affiliate with the Separatist scum. We didn't agree with what they wanted to do. Besides, we're Mandalorians. We do our own thing around here."

Rey almost stumbled. The first Mandalorian she met and his clan was against the Separatists. Maybe the Force was looking out for her after all. She stayed silent but didn't move to keep walking.

"Anyways, I can take you home if you want? You'll have a place to stay and all. Food and water? Some proper rest?" 

Rey wheeled around toward him and he flinched back again.

"I mean. at least until I can find you a ride off of this sandball." He added to his statement, hoping to clarify his intentions.

"I'm a Jedi. I'm sworn to not have emotional attachments." Rey said. That sadly included handsome Mandalorians. She nearly wanted to scream when he cocked a brow.

"So, you agree then? That's okay if you don't. Just don't let the shriek-hawks get to you." He replaced his helmet and went to walk back the way he came when it was Rey's turn to stop him.

"Wait." 

Poe turned back at the desperation in her voice. She couldn't see the amused expression on his face.

"Yes, _jetiise?_ "

"Can I come?" Her voice was smaller than she liked, but at this point, she didn't really care.

"Yes." He walked back over to her. "I'll even remove my helmet if that makes you comfortable."

"That would be much appreciated." A tiny part of her reasoning was that she wanted to see his face again.

He removed his helmet and nodded, brushing his curls from his face before he headed off in a different direction. "This way, then."

"Why didn't you kill me?" She asked suddenly. He looked at her.

"There's something different about you. Why would I kill somebody that needs help escaping from the Separatists? Besides, there's a lot of talk around the village of you. Everyone outside of our village wants you dead. You may need a bodyguard." He warmly grinned at her after sending her a wink.

This was not a normal Mandalorian. Out of all the ones she'd met on diplomatic missions, this was the friendliest one by far. At least, he wasn't normal by whatever "normal" was in their standards.

She had a good feeling about this guy.

"Fine," she said. "Take me away."

He smiled purely, his eyes gaining adorable crinkles. "Okay, Sunshine."

She was too surprised to ask what that nickname was about before he turned and started walking off.


End file.
